Of pies and Tupperware

Yesterday I spent the morning whirling like a dervish in an attempt to get my apartment into the kind of state that I wouldn't mind other people seeing. I also needed to move my sofabed out of the bedroom and put it back into service as a couch so that I would actually have enough seats for the ten people who I was expecting at my Tupperware party. First party I've had for years and years and it was just as much fun as I remembered. Had beginner Tupper-Ladies though, so it was all a bit chaotic.

Good fun though and the turnover was pretty good so I have a couple of good freebies to look forward to. I do find myself somewhat torn between not wanting to be encouraging consumerism and actually hosting an event that I know will involve almost everyone spending money on stuff. But since I do use almost all of the Tupperware I have on a regular basis I know how good it is so at least I can know that even if it's expensive, it's not a complete waste of money. I know my first couple of pieces of Tupperware were presents when I lived in Germany before and that's 18 years ago but they're still going strong, despite the heavy use I give them. I did buy several things as well and I have to admit that I know I will get a thrill when I see it all piled on the table after I receive the order.

So now I have to decide whether to leave the clutter in the bedroom or move it back out to the sitting-room and to be honest, I'm leaning heavily towards leaving it in the bedroom. Even though I've only just started getting that space clear a few weeks ago. I think the clearing of the living room has been way more effective though and that I'll start to invite more people over, even just for coffee. Always a good incentive to keep the place halfway tidy. So I'll see how it goes with trying to tackle one small pile/one bag/one box every week and maybe I'll end up with a properly decluttered bedroom pretty soon, too.

This evening I'm off to the pub quiz again. I brought an apple tart with me last week and everyone was very impressed so I got carried away and promised a cake for this week too.

I decided to make the easy jam tart I've done before. Wish I had thought to look back through the archives before I made it though because I've made exactly the same mistake and it's a bit better done than it should be. At least I did remember about the almond so I just used some of my homemade vanilla extract instead. But hopefully it'll still be edible enough to satisfy the lads and lassies in the pub.





Maybe I should wait until everyone's had a drink or two to take it out. At at least I'll be giving the lads another chance to annoy me by telling me it's not a tart, it's a pie. If one of them remembers his promise from last week though, I should be taking home a bag of rhubarb with me this evening, so it'll definitely be worth having made the effort.

That's all from me for now. Hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

Water bath preserving

Just back from a week in Ireland where I lurched from one disaster to the next. Hired a car and it turned out my super duper rate really was too good to be true as it didn't include insurance (I had booked on the international rather than the Irish website and it isn't automatically included then) so I ended up having to pay for that as well. Then I bashed the car off a wall in the underground car park (honestly didn't see the corner of wall which extended about two inches into the space I was reversing into but my goodness what a horrible sound it makes in the car when you do that - I had no idea). So had to pay the 800 euro excess as the scratch went through the paintwork - should find out tomorrow if I'll get any refunded of that. If they just fix it I should, if they decide they want to go ahead and replace the entire bumper I won't see much of a refund. C'est la vie but of all the ways I might have found to focus my mind back onto budgeting this wasn't really near the top of my list!

However, I did get to spend time with lots of people. Was on the go or staying with someone the whole time and generally had a lovely time despite the worrying about paying for the car, fighting off a cold and the fact that many of the people I was catching up with are going to be made redundant in a week or two (and a friend of mine whose husband works in a recruitment agency told me that he is getting at least 400 CVs for every position they have so the chances of most of those people getting new jobs quickly don't seem too high). I'm not sure what I was expecting but I think I thought I'd have very strong feelings going back and wasn't sure if they'd be positive or negative. But really I was kind of indifferent to it all and the feeling remains that I was right to leave Ireland but wish that I was still working there instead of here. Still, I am seven months into things here and can hold out for another four and then it's nearly a year and once the year is up maybe I'll start looking for something else and to hell with thinking it's a bad idea to do that when the economy is the way it is.

It was exciting to come home to some parcels though and I picked a few more up from the post office this evening. Cue photos of my new water bath canners:

Only the shorter one has the inset part i.e. the bit you put the jars on to make sure they're not touching the direct heat source like so:

But I know a folded up teatowel can also be used and I'm sure you can buy replacements if you really want to. I am surprised at how huge these things are though. I put a corkscrew into the photo for comparison - I thought they wouldn't be that much bigger than my stockpot but they really are. So I think two is definitely more than enough. Not bad going for 5.30 plus shipping really. Roll on the summer!

I've become a consumer again

Well, I was always one I suppose but my consumption habits, in comparison to most of the people I know were fairly non-existant. Of course, having to furnish the apartment meant that I've been buying stuff on a fairly regular basis since I arrived here. In addition to actual furniture there were a lot of little things that always already seemed to be in the places I've lived the last number of years. Like a chopping board. Dustpan and brush. Better pans than the one crappy one I had. For the most part, I am happy with the way I have been spending though. Apart from a few items the first weekend I arrived (couch/bed, single bed for my bedroom, wardrobe from Ikea, sink + cupboard from Toom and washing machine + fridge from Quelle) all of the furniture I have gotten has been second-hand. But, at some stage, enough is enough and although it is tempting to keep going to see what bargains are to be had I really don't need anything further.

And then I discovered eBay. Oh my. It seems to also be a kind of a reaction to the news that so many people I know are being made redundant I think because I've been really fighting the urge to spend, spend, spend the last few days. So, I have bought far more than I originally planned to this month but am nonetheless pleased that I have not gone too wild on eBay as I can understand how easily it can be done (I bid on a pressure cooker today but after one bid dropped out and just saw that it finally went for 42 euro - I can't believe it would have cost that even brand new!). I have treated myself to a couple of DVDs (of films I have already seen a few times and will watch again) but otherwise bought things which I have had somewhere on a list of 'someday when I have money'. It just seems like time is running out to do the consumerist thing and I want to stock up on some things which should, hopefully, help me in my long term goal to being somewhat more self-reliant. Or maybe that's all just a pile of excuses for having had fun spending money I know I shouldn't (to a certain extent) have spent. I am glad to be living in Germany though as the whole credit lifestyle just really isn't the norm here and I don't really have any sources of credit readily available to me (unlike in Ireland where a credit card or overdraft increase were always just a phonecall and 24 hours approval away).

So, in order to put everything down in black and white I am listing everything I've bought on eBay. This lot gathered itself together astoundingly quickly and although I didn't pay a high price for any one thing, once the shipping costs are added and the whole lot together it very quickly has used up all my spare cash for this month (which, given that I'm about to go home for a week is not good but such is life).

Joghurt maker - 2
DVDs (x3) - 3 each
Material squares for quilting - 9
2m material - 6.55
Tupperware mini rice forms - 3
Tupperware butter dish - 2.60
Tupperware jug - 1.75
Butter dish to match my pottery - 11.52
iPod - 35.51
Water bath canner - 2.75
Water bath canner - 2.50
Pressure cooker - 8.05

Some of the silly things I did but luckily got away with:

Bid on two copies of the same film. Silly me. Luckily someone outbid me on one of them five minutes before the auction was due to end and the one I did end up buying was two euro less.

The iPod. You see, late last night it ocurred to me that looking into iPods and mp3 players was something I'd been meaning to do for a long time (based on the idea that it's probably better tan buying CDs) and I thought I'd have a quick look to see if there were any on offer. Of cousre, I don't have any idea how much something like that is supposed to cost other than having had a vague 'expensive' thought in my head so when I saw one for 25 euro I thought it would be worth breaking my 20 euro rule for. Put a max offer of 35 on it and it actually went all the way up to that but then I did win it. But in the meantime I had checked one of the big electronics shops here online and they have them on offer for 45 euro. So, a small saving and a big lesson learned. I need to sit down and really make sure I know what the things are that I still need and find out how much they normally cost.

Must go and pack. At least I know where my passport is. What bliss to have a place for everything. Everything isn't quite in its place but I'm getting there and at least the passport was where it's supposed to be.